Et, Vrobinces.

Mr. Ward's seat for Sheffield was vacated by him on Friday last, by formal acceptance of the office under the Crown which had been some time destined for him; and on Saturday the following farewell address appeared under his name.

" To the Electors and Non-Electors of the Borough of Sheffield.

"Gentlemen—I have this day accepted the offias of Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, which her Majesty has been graciously pleased to confer upon me; and by so doing I have vacated the seat which you confided to me in July 1837, and in which your kindness has sustained me daring twelve most cri- tical years.

" Daring the first nine years of those twelve, I believe that I represented as nearly as any public man can hope to do that fusion of opinions and interests of which what is termed the Liberal party is composed. I came amongst you an- nually to render an account of my stewardship; and, though I neither expected nor wished to satisfy all, the discussion of honest differences did good, and tended to keep up a mutual confidence between the constituency and its representative which was beneficial to both.

"Has this confidence been diminished ? and if so, why, and how? I will answer these questions with perfect frankness. I believe that the constituency of Sheffield is toe large to be represented permanently by two members belonging to any Government, now that the great political questions which have derided the country for the last half century are set at rest. Sheffield was unanimous upon the Reform Bill, to which it owes its own political existence, and upon Free Trade. It is unanimous upon nothing now. Upon the Education question, the Franchise, Taxation, and National Expenditure, the constituency, like the country, is divided into many sections, each of which desires a representative of its own views. Had I been independent, I should have found it impossible to satisfy these conflicting claims; but I should at least have had the advantage of my independence, and I should have defended my own convictions—as I did upon the Poor-laws—as I did upon Trades' Unions—without any man attributing to interested subserviency what was the result of honest belief.

"I have lost that advantage. I lost it with your consent and concurrence ; for I told you when I was returned as a member of Lord John Russell's Government, that you must no longer expect me to take my own line upon each separate question as it arose; and that, although I should be prepared to quit the Govern- ment if I differed from it upon any vital principle, I must be bound by its general policy, and should abide by the views of those under whom I agreed to serve in all eases of doubt.

" I have done so in one or two instances; but I am bound to add, that in those decisions with which most fault has been found my vote and my convictions went together. Upon the Education question, for instance, which has excited more bitterness of feeling than any other question of modern times, I voted with the Government, because I sincerely believed the Government to be right. Upon the Ballot I thought myself entitled to repeat my earlier voted. Upon Mr. Hume's motion for an extension of the franchise,—the object of which, according to his own statement, was to add 3,000,000 to the present conaitnency,—coming as it did in the midst of that moral epidemic which spared no country except our own I voted, as Secretary of the Admiralty, precisely as I should have voted bad I been Member for Sheffield and nothing more. I did the same upon the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus in Ireland, and the bill for limiting political discussion to sometbing short of actual conspiracy against the Crown ; although I admit that, in a free country, what- ever tampers with the right of discussion can only be justified by such an abuse ef the law as to make restriction necessary for the preservation of the law itself.

"That- we have weathered the storm which has changed the face of Europe and filled its capitals with mourning and blood, I do not ascribe to this restrictive policy alone, but to the general good sense of the community, and, above all, to the fact that we had anticipated revolution by reform; and that by removing in time unjust and obnoxious limitations upon the right of representation and the supply of food, England had secured a general concurrence in the maintenance of institutions which are always open to improvement when the will of the country is deliberately expressed. "I know that in giving these votes I displeased some who have misunderstood my character and opinions; but I believe that the great majority of the electors of Sheffield have not disapproved of the course which I pursued. I admit, how- ever, that upon many points my own views have been modified by a nearer ac- quaintance with the responsibilities of power. I am not ashamed to confess that the experience of the last three years has taught me to see difficulties in practice which in theory I did not apprehend; and that although I entertain as firm a belief as ever in those great principles of justice and good faith upon which all government rests, I see that in their application honest men may differ honestly, and always must differ so long as the human mind is differently impressed by the times and circumstances amidst which our lot is cast "I have now, gentlemen, only to thank you, and I do so from my heart, for the confidence which you have reposed in me and the kindness that I have uniformly experienced at your hands. You exercise with singular parity the duties which the constitution assigns to you. I have served you in three Parliaments, and I have had as many contests for my seat; yet my elections have never cost me a shilling more than the legal expenses; and during the three years that I have been in office I have hardly received as many applications from Sheffield for any- thing that office can give. Of such a constituency a man may well be proud, and I shall always look back to my connexion with you as the happiest incident of ray political life.

"Some of you think that I ought to have contented myself with that honour, and not to have looked beyond; but I do not see upon what principle the great towns of England should exclude their Members from all participation in the prizes of a Parliamentary career. I doubt whether they would consult their own Interests in doing so. I know no better stimulus to exertion in the public service than the hope of meriting the approbation of a large constituency by the manner in which great public duties are discharged; and I think it would be unfortunate, both for the country and for yourselves, if a time were ever to come in which the Queen's service, fairly earned, and entered into without any greater compromise of individual opinions than must result from every combination of political men, should be held to be incompatible with the representation of London, or Sheffield, or Manchester, or Leeds.

"In my own humble instance I can truly say, that, in the discharge of the la- borious duties attached to the office which I have filled for the last three years, I have been sustained and cheered by the hope that my conduct as a servant of the Crown would merit your good opinion, as well as that of the statesmen under whom I have served; and that, if in dealing with the noble service to which I have devoted my mind and time, the Boards of Admiralty to which I have had the honour of belonging have kept the public interest steadily in view—if, by the sacrifice of their own patronage they have infused a new spirit into the Dock- yards, and while they maintained the efficiency of the Navy if they have reduced its expenditure by nearly a million in the last eighteen months—these things, in which I have borne a willing though subordinate part, would leave a kindly im- pression amongst you of one who acknowledges himself so greatly your debtor, and perhaps be recollected when the memory of casual differences had passed away.

"Gentlemen, I have the honour to be, with sentiments of most sincere grati- tude and regard, your very faithful friend and servant,

"Admiralty, Aril 27. • H. G. WARD." Mr. Rcebuck lost no time in making his public appearance in Sheffiekl as a candidate: on Monday evening an assemblage of electors and non- electors was convened in Paradise Square, to hear from his lipa an adareas on his political opinions. The meeting was the most numerous that has been held in Sheffield for several years; there being, according to report, "not less than 10,000 or 11,000 persons present." Mr. Dunn, the chair- man of Mr. Roebuck's committee, came forward to preside; but the Chartists nominated Mr. Otley; and after a little dispute about a show of hands, Mr. Dunn retired and Mr. Otley was installed. Mr. Ironside, the Chartist, began business by reading a letter from Mr. Thomas Clark, the candidate of his party, he retired from any further opposition, announcing that on account of the close approximation of Mr. Roebuck's opinion on the question of the suffrage; and declaring Mr. Roebuck to be a frank, honest, and open-dealing opponent.

Mr. Roebuck made a declaration of his leading opinions first on the form of government, and then on the best measures to be had from the government adopted.

He found himself under a Monarchy, with a Howe of Peers. He held to those conditions ; and thought that a good government can be got by a well- constructed representation in the Commons House of Parliament. A term that he lately used had given some offence—the term a " large deduction" in reference to " universal" suffrage. But he adhered to the term, and repeated it. "And now I say, there is, and there must be, and there ever will be, a large deduction, when I come to consider the whole population as represented. First and fore- most, you cut off half the human race—the women. Thus you have half cat off; and then you cut off more than one half of the remainder, the children. Why do you make this line, where you fix the rule at twenty-one? You say that at the period of twenty-one years of age, and not till then, a man shall become a voter. Why is this? Are there not men of sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years of age who are intelligent men? Yes, but you must have some rule, some fixed line. 'The law says twenty-one—I know not why—you take twenty-one: and so do I. Well, then, you must have some line; and why? Because you say intel- ligence is required, and twenty-one is the limit under which you say the requisite intelligence cannot be obtained. I accept it. But when I accept it I take the rule as well as its consequence. Now, I have to deal with less than one fourth of the human race above the age of twenty-one. First and foremost, I say with crime I have no sympathy. And therefore, without exception, I say that intlimizing crime ought, as a mode of punishment, to render him who is convicted by twelve of his countrymen unfit to vote for a representative. I carry that out. I do not say merely that he is unlit while undergoing punishment—it is a mark upon him which all honest men must abhor; it fixes a brand °whim, and he shall not choose a representative for me. Then, what are infamizing calmest—Murder; felony in all its branches: I do not go further. Well, then, what have I got to do still? I have a deal more to do. Shall every man ran to vote from county to county, from town to town ? No. How is he to be prevented? By registration. When John Smith comes to vote, I want to know that he is John Smith. And how am I to know it? By his living in a certain place for a certain time and having the means to make it known to all the world that he is the John Smith on the register. How am Ito obtain that but by a residence? And now, where have I any fear if I get a residence of six mouths—mark, six months and registration? That, I say, wiltgive me a very fair representation of the population of this king- dom. ldiud, now, I tell you--for I am not going to deceive you—that would be an enormously large deduction from the number of the population. I believe it would be large; I believe it ought to be large. 'say there are many whom honest hardworking men do not wish to have—men who live in idleness, by theft and crime; men who are vagrants in the eye of the law and of their fellows. These people I do not want to be electors ; and first among us all who should have the same wish are the working men. If any of you believe that would be anything like what you call universal suffrage, you are very much mistaken." Mr. Roe- buck himself had been misled. He began politics when a young man, and used the term to express what he did not mean. Roane word would express what he desired. . . . " But when you have got that—that which I have expressed to you—what do you think that you will have attained? Do you think you will have attained riches, or distinction, or happiness? If you do, you were never more mistaken. An accurate representation will not make you happy. It can only secure to the people that they may be allowed to exercise their industry and ingenuity, without let or hindrance from those who with bad designs and evil intentions wish to work the misery of their kind. You Want the liberty to do that which you judge best in your condition; that shall not do any other man any injury. ("razes!") Taxes! it is rubbish to talk about taxes. I hear so much on this subject that I am tired of hearing it imposed on the people, and of listening to the repetition of such nonsense. The people are not kept. down by taxes, but by the misunder- standing of their own means of comfort. It is on themselves that they must de- pend. Let them be self-dependent, and be assured they will be happy."

Mr. Roebuck dealt seriatim with the questions of Church and State,' Education, the Poor, Ireland, the Colonies and Foreign Policy. One thing

he had to say respecting himself: he had Colonies, told on all sides—" Oh, Sir, there is only one thing the people object to, and that is that you are seek- ing office." Now he told them at once that he was not going into Par- liament to refuse office-

" No such thing. I do not think it would be a good thing that the Radical re- presentatives—for I call myself a Radical, say what you will—of the large towns, should say they will not enter the Government. But if you ask me if I will be- come a subordinate member of the Government, I say, no; nothing of the sort. If I take share in the Government, it must be such a part of the Government as will give me a voice in it, If lain ever to take office, you will have to decide whether I am to do so as your representative; for I am not going to take an office into which I can slip without asking you whether I am to go in or not." A written paper was handed up to the candidate: he read it and said-

" There is somebody here who has so thoroughly mean an opinion of me, that he writes thus= If you are appointed a member of the present or any future Go- vernment, will you use your influence in opposition to any of the principles you have now advocated ? ' (Larlater. "It's meant for Ward!") Gentlemen, I must be a very great rogue it I did. I have told you what my opinions are. I cannot be a member of the Government without your aid, and I tell you that every act of my life has hitherto been to extend the power of what is called the people. Every act, every vote, every word I have ever uttered, has been for that purpose. But, as Mr. Clark has truly said in his letter to my friend Mr. Ironsidet I do oppose your social theories, for I do think you are mightily wrong; and if that is what this paper means, I shall certainly oppose it."

Mr. Ironside then proposed, and Mr. Isaac Schofield seconded, a resolu- tion favourable to Mr. Roebuck; and it was carried with cheers, by a gene- ral show of hands, "very few hands being held up against it." A resolu- tion pledging the meeting to support Mr. Clark on a future occasion, and a vote of censure upon the retiring Member Mr. Ward, were each carried by a large majority.

The Philanthropic Society publicly celebrated, on Monday, the founda- tion of a chapel for the new farm-school which they are about to open at Redhill, near Reigate; Prince Albert lending the patronage of his personal attendance and participation in the ceremony. The Society desired a place for training the inmates of their reformatory in avocations other than those possible in the Metropolis—for teaching them gardening and farming, and preparing them for the life of a colonial emigrant. The purchase was therefore made. It consists of a farm of 130 acres in the Surrey Hills two miles from Reigate. The labour of the boys will be used on the farm, which is suited for spade-husbandry; and it is expected that the institution can be made self-supporting. "There is already a farm-house on the ground, which will accommodate sixty boys, with a master and mistress to take charge of them; it being another great object of the Society in its new locality to separate the boys as much as possible, and give them the benefits of a domestic education. There are two other farm-houses to be built, which will each accommodate the same number of boys, with accommodations for those who are to superintend them; and there is to be a general school-house and chapel."

The foundation-stone of this last building was laid by Prince Albert, in presence of a numerous assemblage of the local gentry and of aristocratic patrons from London--including the Bishop of Norwich, the Bishop of Winchester, the Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Westminster, the Earl of Harrowby, the Earl of Ellesmere, the Earl of Denbigh, and Earl Somers; the Lord Mayor, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, and several other Members of Parliament. The act of laying the stone was per- formed by Prince Albert; and the ceremonies of pouring wine, oil, and corn, were added, as emblematic of hopes of agricultural prosperity. Hymns were sung by a company of children; and then a number of re- spectable young men who had been brought up by the institution pre- sented an address to Prince Albert. With simple and impressive words they acknowledged their own obligations for the instruction they had re- ceived, and hoped fervently that the work then sanctioned by the Prince might be blessed in future years, and the farm-school then founded be the means of reclaiming future thousands from ignorance and crime and ruin. The Prince replied with kindly tact, and a practically benevolent hint to the public respecting reformed culprits—

"I earnestly trust that, by the progress of civilization and of a true Christian feeling, society will daily overcome any prejudice which may have stood in the way of receiving them back, with cheerfulness and trust, after the training they have received in this and similar institutions, and of extending to them a readily aiding hand in their struggles to regain a position of equality with their brethren." Prince Albert returned to London; but the company adjourned to a tent, where a luncheon was prepared and speeches were made. The Duke of Richmond stated that some forty boys have already been sent out to Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. The Earl of Harrowby stated, that he had asked the chaplain what proportion of the boys gave, in his estimation, good hopes of being reformed; and he replied, about 70 in 100. If that had been the ease in London, he thought they might look for still more cheering results here. But the Society had to deal not only with their moral but also with their physical nature. No one could see these children, with their low brows, their crippled and dwindled features, without being aware that they must have been labouring under the most depressing physical as well as moral inconve- niences. The only objection that could be made to this institution was, that they were doing more for the criminals than for the children of honest labourers. But these persons were hardly to be called criminals. He thought they ought to be 'looked on as unfortunate rather than criminal. With the associations which they had been compelled to form, it would indeed have been a singular instance of -God's mercy if any one of them had escaped contamination. He therefore thought they were well entitled to the care they received; and thinking thus, he was grati- fied to see this new institution commence with such auspicious omens.

The inquest on Henry Merchant, the quarryman of Bath who died suddenly, his wife remarrying a few days after, was resumed on Monday. The parties in custody are Merchant's widow and her new husband Harris, with a man and his wife named Shalor. Mr. Herapath, the chemist, stated that he had examined the stomach and intestines of the deceased, and had discovered arsenic: he had no doubt that the man died-from white arsenic; it was probably administered in pearl-barley, not many hears before -death; if previous illness was caused by poi- son, another portion of arsenic must have been taken; the symptoms described by Merchant's medical attendant were those that arsenic would produce. White arsenic was found in a tin case at Shalor's house. Other surgical evidence more or less corroborated Mr. Herapath's view of the cause of death. The inquiry was adjourned.

A woman named Goering, of the parish of Guestling, near Hastings, is in cus- tody on suspicion of poisoning her husband and three grown-up sons. The hus- band died suddenly, on the 13th September; the widow received burial-money -from the man's club. On the 27th December, George one of the sons, died. On the 6th March, James Geering died: he had belonged to the same club as the father. A few weeks since, a third son was seized with violent retching; but surgical assistance restored him. Not bog after, the young man was again enacted in the same way; and this time a surgeon detected arsenic in what was rejected by the stomach. The woman was arrested; the bodies of the husband and the two sons were exhumed, and the viscera were taken out in the presence of a Coroner's Jury; who then adjourned that a chemical examination might be made. The prisoner was examined, by the Hastings Magistrates, on Friday last. It was proved that a paper labelled " poison " was found in the woman's house. She 'denied that she had had any for months. But a chemist of Hastings stated that he had sold her many pennyworths of arsenic—she made one purchase about the 12th of February.

The wife of a labourer named Farrow, living on the Earl of Yarborough's es- tate has been murdered in the fields at mid-day : her skull appears to have been 'shattered by an axe. Suspicion fell on Overton, a labouring man, and he has been arrested.

A woman of Ileddington, near Devizes, perished of cold on the 19th ultimo. She had set out for Devizes market, but was soon overpowered on a down by the inclemency of the weather; and there she was found lying dead.